You've got a Friend in Me (Bartok)

[Bartok]

Bartok also felt much better when he was singing. It had been nice when he'd been singing with Juicy before, but sitting here singing with Giselle, he was remembering exactly why she'd been his very best friend. There was something so completely pure and bright about Giselle, about the way she interacted with the world, the things she chose to sing and to do and to believe. He had been around her again for less than five minutes now, and she already made him want to be better himself. He wasn't sure how well that was going to work out, considering he had started off this whole interaction, pretty much, with a blatant lie, which he was now trying to maintain.

"That helps you to find, the beauty you are when you open your heart and believe in the gift of a friend..." he sang with her, then pulled her by both of her hands, out into the hall, turning in a slow circle as the song built up. "And when your hope crashes down down, shattering to the ground...you...you feel all alone...when you don't know which way to go and there's no signs leading you home..." Bartok could not have said how he knew the words to this song, but he did, and it was making him very emotional as he sang it with Giselle, who was definitely the most amazing person he had ever met.

[Giselle]

Somehow, singing with Bartok was better than singing with Edward, even though she was engaged to be married to Edward. But it maybe it was because she'd sung more songs with Bartok than she had with Edward. They did tend to sing a lot. But she loved it and wouldn't change a thing! This was why he was her very very best friend. Pip, as much as she loved him, couldn't sing and dance like this.

"You are not alone," she sang with him. She liked the circling. It was slow and it was a big movement. Giselle let go of hands when they had come full circle, moving in closer to wrap an arm around his middle so that their sides were pressed together. She walked forward, continuing the circular motion. "The world comes to life and everything's bright, from beginning to end when you have a friend, by your side, that helps you to find, the beauty of all when you open your heart and believe in." The song was coming to an end and Giselle twirled in a circle in the opposite direction than they had been circling in, let go of Bartok only to catch his hands again as she came back to face him. "When you believe in, when you believe in, the gift of a friend."

[Bartok]

Bartok would have been infinitely pleased to know that he was more fun to sing with than Edward, but that was mostly because no one really complimented him on his talents. They certainly hadn't back at home. He had spent a lot of time getting a lot of dirty looks from bats who were actually bats and not Bartoks, mostly because he was so bad at hunting for insects that he often chased off the food for the rest of them. He had not been a very popular bat, to say the least.

But Giselle made him feel wanted and important, and he adored her for that. He kept turning in circles, ignoring the dizziness that was starting to tug at the corners of his vision. "When you believe in the gift of a friend..." he harmonized as the song wound down to the end. He held her hands tightly, focusing on her face so he wouldn't fall down, and came to a halt. And right there, in that moment, he understood something. He understood why people kissed each other at the end of musical numbers, whether they were on rooftops or in the middle of hallways or wherever they were. Looking at Giselle, his own shining eyes locked onto hers, her hands in his, breathing a little faster than usual from all the spinning, he was suddenly moved with the urge to kiss her. He even leaned in closer, just for a split second, as if he were actually going to do it, but then his crushing self-doubt came bubbling back up from where the singing had chased it down to, and he stood up straight.

"I'm so glad you found me," he said, finding his voice, although something seemed to be wrong with it, it was funny and a little bit squeakier and maybe closer to his actual bat voice.

[Giselle]

Something felt different singing with Bartok. It had been a while since they had sung together but it felt right. It was different in a way that wasn't bad, but in a way that Giselle couldn't put her finger on. Something had changed but she couldn't quite tell what had changed. Even as the song was coming to an end, something had changed. Something felt charged between the two of them. They stopped spinning and something was different. Looking at Bartok she looked into his eyes and her heart skipped. She felt the butterflies in her stomach. And then he leaned in and Giselle leaned in to meet him.

And then nothing happened. Giselle felt strangely disappointed about that though she wasn't sure why. Instead she leaned in, her arms moving to embrace him again and she laid her head on his shoulder. She could hear his voice in his chest which sounded funny. "I missed you," she said softly. "It wasn't the same without you."

[Bartok]

Bartok had never felt exactly like he belonged anywhere. He didn't belong in the forest with all the other normal bats. He didn't belong in a classroom here. He certainly didn't belong with Rasputin doing his evil bidding. But right here, with Giselle's head on his shoulder, his arms around her, holding her close against him, he realized that of all the places he had ever been, this right here was the closest he had ever felt to home. He never wanted to let go of her, he wanted to hold her right there forever or at least until they both had to go get food or something. He brought one hand up, cradling the back of her head. She was so warm and soft and sweet and everything about her was good and kind and safe.

"Are you going to go back to school?" he asked, leaning back to look at her, his hand still holding the back of her head, fingers grasping at her hair. "It's been...I don't think they'd let me go to school now, I'm too old, I could...I don't know how to teach anything, but...if you're here, I want to stay here, too."

[Giselle]

Giselle knew that she liked Bartok an awful lot. But this was different. This right now felt safe. It felt like the world could be made up of just the two of them and she wouldn't mind. She wouldn't mind at all. She would never be lonely with bartok around because he was her very very best friend. But it felt like something more too. Because this felt safe in a way that things had never felt safe before. It felt like coming home. Giselle hadn't known that a person could feel like home.

She let out a contented sigh when she felt the hand in her hair. It would probably mess up her hair, but Bartok's hand was comforting.

She picked her head up, looking up at Bartok as he spoke. She smiled softly and nodded. "I'm going to stay and finish my degree. I'm almost done. And I'll be very glad if you stay too."

[Bartok]

Bartok didn't know what he was going to do here. He would probably have to get a job or something, earn his keep and all that. He was pretty sure students had always been provided with food and housing, but if he wasn't a student, he was going to have to work something out, and he just didn't think the school would let him live in Giselle's room with her. That would be...indecent or something, and they would probably keep the other students up at night with their inevitable loud singing. He had no idea how he was going to arrange this, but he did know one thing.

Despite all of his terror and dismay at having been brought back here to the school without his permission, and despite the way he still very much did not want Giselle to know the truth about how he'd left, he knew that he wanted to be near her. Being back in his forest pretending to be a bat again sounded awful now that he remembered what it was like to be close to her, and he wanted no part of it. The other bats wouldn't miss him, they'd probably be glad he wasn't still around scaring off all the food. If he had to get a job, he would get a job, he would rent an apartment, do things that normal not-bat-people did in their lives.

"I'm going to stay," he said, decisively. "If you're staying, I'm staying, I want to be where you are. I think I need to get a job. And a house or a room somewhere. But I can do that. I know I can."

[Giselle]

Giselle hoped that Bartok would stay. His friendship meant a lot to her and she didn't want him for a second time, especially since they had only just found each other again. Her smile grew wide at the confirmation that Bartok would stay. Her heart swelled, but not with song. It swelled with something else that she couldn't name. But surely she would figure out what that meant eventually.

She squeezed him briefly. "I'm glad you're staying. I can help you find someplace to stay. I don't know if I can help you find a job, but I'm so happy you're staying!" She let out a wordless little shriek of delight. "We can have all kinds of adventures together! Just like we did before. I'm so glad you're staying. I missed you."